What is Lost
by BlackBandit111
Summary: A policemen remembers the four times he heard Spider-Man speak, and remembers the emotions within. And he knows what the young man has gone through. And he hears what he has lost. Post TASM2. Spoiler/ish. Nothing major. Oneshot.


_**Hello fanfictioners! So I just saw TASM2 last night and OH MY GOD IT WAS ASDFGHJKL I MEAN AND THEN HOLY-?! THEY CAN'T JUST? BUT THEY DID?! **_

_**I mean honestly, for those of you who KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, like WHAT? just WHAT? But I kind of saw it coming, with the whole Green Goblin and knowing about it previous from the comics (and Tumblr) so...**_

_**but man. Okay. Here we go. Sort of the movie from a policeman's POV, but not really...okay, well. Enjoy!**_

* * *

The first time Patrick Carter meets Spider-Man, he remembers the lean, lithe figure, the toned muscles, but mostly the man's voice. Carter's been in the force for six years, and he knows a young man when he hears one. But the man behind the mask sounds like little more than a boy- barely into manhood- and still has the lilting quality that many children use. It is full of cockiness, arrogance and even amusement as witty comments fly loose, and then he's bounding away before Patrick can even hope to grab his gun.

It takes him three more seconds to realize belatedly that Spider-Man had just saved his life from a mugger he had been chasing.

The second time Patrick Carter meets Spider-Man, it's on a rooftop, and his captain is resting against an air duct. His body is lifeless and there are bloodstains on his uniform. Spider-Man's head is bowed and his shoulders silently shake, like he is suppressing sobs. Patrick stands motionless, hand halfway to the gun holstered on his hip. His eyes are wide and his mouth hangs slightly open.

The young hero stands slowly, his hands trembling as they reach out towards Captain Stacey for something- but what, Carter doesn't know. He withdraws them and they dangle limp at his sides, and his masked face turns towards the doorway Patrick stands in.

His voice shakes and has lost the lilting quality it once had. "I'm sorry," he chokes, and then he has taken to the dark, starless skies.

Patrick radios for an ambulance, but he can already tell that it is too late to save his chief.

The third time Patrick Carter meets Spider-Man, he is on the ground, arms thrown up to shield his face, bracing for an impact that will not arrive. His eyes snap open and his brain can barely absorb what his eyes are telling him. Spider-Man stands above him, back bent under the weight of the police car that had just been thrown by the glowing super-villain. Patrick is so close, he can see every muscle ripple with the effort of keeping the three ton car balanced on his back and not crumple under the strain.

"It's a good thing you're not one of those policemen who ride the horses," he quips in a slightly rough voice, and Carter can't help but note that, with the absence of the lilt his tone had carried, slight weathering has taken its place. Patrick can hear the experience, the edge to it. There is still the witty amusement, the clever words making even Patrick's lips turn up at the corners.

The young man shrugs the car from his shoulders and bounds back into battle, flipping over this and that and twirling around anything he can grasp. Patrick is impressed; it must be hard to maneuver such long limbs so gracefully.

He can't help but think that Spider-Man is actually doing incredible good for the city- he doubts that the masked vigilante is a 'menace' (as so many people love to call him) and also doubts there is an ulterior motive. He truly believes that Spider-Man may just like to help people; give them hope. Besides- Carter would have died under that car easily, and Spider-Man has no clear reason for helping people the way he does.

The fourth time Patrick Carter meets Spider-Man, he has been gone for nearly a year. Patrick has begun to accept that the webhead had quit or just died with his last foe. Standing in the street and facing a mad man in a steel weaponized suit, Carter fires all his rounds and empties his clip, ducking into cover to reload.

It is a panicked scream from a woman and many protests from his fellow law enforcers that make Patrick glance up, and when he does, his blood freezes in his veins. His heart nearly cracks his ribs it thuds so hard.

Standing in the middle of the road is a little boy, a child no more than eight years old, glaring defiantly right at the enemy. A wolfish smile spreads across the convict's lips. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Spider-Man," he taunts, and the mockery drips from his words, "are you afraid?"

Carter's heart thumps wildly and he can hear his own pulse in his ears. _Please,_ he thinks desperately as he watches the machine lurching towards the defenseless boy, who had put on the mask. _Please; something, anything. A miracle. Please._

There is a slight _thwip_ from above him and the patter of graceful feet, and then suddenly there is a tall man standing just behind the little boy, and Patrick can barely think there is such relief flowing through his veins because _Spider-Man isn't dead_ and _he's here_ and _he won't let anyone die._

"Hey kiddo," he hears through the mask and his heart plummets. "Thanks for stepping in for me, but what do you say you go take care of your mom while I deal with this, alright?" Spider-Man has knelt down to the little boy's level and sticks out a closed fist. The little boy bumps it with his own, and Spider-Man ruffles his hair. The boy runs back to his mother.

Patrick can't be happy about that right now, too focused on the man in front of him. His shoulders slump and his head bows, and for a moment, he looks defeated and very, very vulnerable, like his world has crumbled around him. It only lasts a second, though, before he's on his feet and on top of the police car, being handed a megaphone.

As Spider-Man begins to make an announcement to the dangerous criminal, Patrick can hear his voice. What he may have mistaken for cockiness once is bravado, nothing more. There is a tinge of bitterness laced within it, and the profound air of loss surrounds the hero's whole being. Patrick's pulse is too loud in his ears.

And he knows what he heard in Spider-Man's tone when he first arrived.

He heard a shattered heart.

* * *

_**Ehm. Well. Short but okay, I hope? Was it good? Bad? My first TASM fanfic, so I'm a little uneasy. Please leave me a comment on your thoughts, and constructive criticism you may have, and thanks for reading!**_


End file.
